Capitolo 9. "Infrastrutture sociali per la città"

Climate change, natural and human-made disasters, overcrowded spaces, pollution, waste production and energy access are just a few issues that our cities have to deal with. At the same time, cities offer a promising intervention field to foster collaboration in planning and managing infrastructures for sustainable growth. To address climate change and global warming, many cities all around the world are currently developing projects and policies focusing both on mitigation measures and on local adaptation strategies, introducing the concept of Resilient Cities and Communities. Creating resilient cities has both social and physical dimensions. The social dimensions of resilience can be achieved through different approaches, depending on which methods are employed to reach and engage citizens, and on who leads urban initiatives and actions. These “climate change experiments” aim to reinforce local identity and culture in order to strengthen bonds and build positive relationships among individuals, improving their collective ability to deal with change and supporting transition pathways to a more sustainable urban environment. The chapter collects projects to develop and strengthen the social infrastructure of the city and identifies different approaches to engage citizens, broaden participation and improve the social dimensions of resilience by building social capital, with direct and indirect effects on the resilience of the community and the city itself.